Analysts: Apple likely to release television set within two years

A quote from Steve Jobs in the new authorized biography of the Apple (AAPL) co-founder has analysts rushing to confirm earlier speculation that Apple is developing a television set.

In the book -- "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson -- Jobs tells the author, "I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. ... It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

Analysts who have already been talking to Asian component manufacturers to determine if Apple is looking for television parts say that Apple will release television sets no later than 2013.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster kicked things off with a Monday morning note to clients reiterating that his firm has met with Asian suppliers that confirmed Apple "is investing in manufacturing facilities and securing supply for LCD displays" for televisions and already has prototypes in the works. He notes that his firm has "long believed that Apple was planning to launch an all-in-one television in late 2012 or 2013."

With Apple's television-related patents, the desire for parts and Jobs' quote as evidence, Munster concludes that Apple is nearing introduction of televisions and could sell 1.4 million units in 2012.

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Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White also released a note Monday, proclaiming that the Jobs quote fits in with his company's claims earlier this year.

"We were the first on the Street to actually uncover concrete evidence that an Apple Smart TV was already flowing through factories over in China in early stage pilot and prototype production," he writes.

White goes on to say that Apple had delayed a refresh of its Apple TV set-top box for the third quarter of 2011, possibly to focus on fully integrated television sets instead.

Apple stock, which has fallen every day since the company announced earnings last Tuesday that didn't meet analysts' high expectations, rose $12.90, or 3.28 percent, on Monday.

Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.